Mock Trial Opening Statements for the Defense Lawyer

I wrote last month about presenting a mock trial opening statement for a prosecutor, so this post will deal with an opening statement for a defense lawyer. Before I launch into my suggestions, let’s talk a little bit about what the role of a defense lawyer is in a trial. The defense lawyer’s job is to make sure that his or her client gets a fair trial, and that means that the defense lawyer must advocate for the client’s point of view.

An mock trial opening statement is scored both on the content and also on delivery.

Most of the time a defense lawyer does not succeed in convincing a jury of a the defendant’s actual innocence. Usually when a defendant is acquitted (found “not guilty”), the jurors make that decision based on the fact that there was some small measure of doubt in their minds as to the defendant’s guilt. These doubts is what the defense lawyer raises, and there is no better place to begin then in the defense opening statement.

If you haven’t already, go ahead and read last months tips for the prosecutor’s opening statement. You will find helpful suggestions, and the post with help you anticipate what a prosecutor might present. In your defense opening statement, your job is raise some doubt in the jurors minds about the prosecutor’s claims as to what your client has done. So after you introduce yourself, and tell the jurors who you represent, you should begin to highlight the facts in the case that support your defense theory. If the prosecutor points out that he has a solid eye witness to the crime, point out that the witness was over 150 feet away, or that the witness was biased, or that he is not very credible. If the prosecutor says that your clients fingerprints were found at the scene of the crime, point out that your client was previously present on the scene as a guest, or that he trespassed but did not steal anything. If the prosecutor claims your client was caught red-handed with the stolen items in his possession, point out that your client may not have known the items were stolen.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my name is so-and-so and it is my privilege to represent (name of client) in this case before you today.

You have heard the prosecutor explain what she hopes will be proven, but the prosecutor did not tell you all the facts.

The prosecutor has explained that my client was “identified” as the bank robber, but in fact this supposed eye-witness is a man that has held a grudge against my client for a long time, and he has made many inconsistent statements about the case.

The prosecutor has explained that my client was found the next day with over 50 thousand dollars, but none of those bills’ serial numbers was matched to any bank, and my client had the money due to a recent inheritance.

The prosecutor has stated that my client confessed to the robbery, but this statement was made to the police under coercion, and my client is mentally ill and didn’t know what he was saying.

So we would ask you to keep an open mind and listen to ALL the evidence, and return a verdict of “not guilty”. Thank you.

So now that you have spoken, the jurors in the mock trial will at least be prepared to listen to both sides. Keep in mind, that you just can’t make this “doubt” up out of thin air. Every “doubt” must exist in the mock trial packet your teacher gives you, and you need to prep all your lawyer teammates and witness teammates to cover all the fact that are important. For example, if you state in your opening that your client had all that cash due to a recent inheritance, your classmate that is questioning the defendant on direct sure as heck better have the word “inheritance” on his outline of questions. You will lose points if you mention things in your opening statement if they are not later established by the testimony.

I have notice that I have had a lot more visitors to my mock trial blog lately. Let’s hear from you students or teachers as to what questions you have, or what topics you might find helpful. I have been doing jury trials for almost 17 years as both a prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer. I have also coached mock trial teams since about 1997. If you have any questions or suggestions post them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading. :)

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126 Responses

This information is really helpful. I am greatful that you have posted this. My school mock trial team is competing in the next few months. I would greatly appreciate if you would help us out and be our coach because the rules say we can have one Professional coach. You can help us out via phone email or even visit. Please let me know if you can do this via Email:elijah34566@yahoo.com

Thanks for your question Rucie. Usually for a bench trial, the opening statement is less than one half in length, and less time is put into the planning because judge’s don’t value the opening as much. But I do think you want to let the judges know what your strong points are ahead of time, much like a jury trial.

Thank you so much for the information! I realize this was written a while back, however, I was wondering if you could answer a couple of questions for me? I just joined the mock trial team for the university of west florida and I finished my defense opening but I have a couple of questions if you have time? My student email is, tmk16@students.uwf.edu. if you don’t have time I completely understand. :) Thank you so much for your postings!

I am in a business law class nearing the end of my masters program…we are currently creating mock trials from contract law cases. Getting started is the most difficult, so I appreciate your “opening statements” portion, it was just the right information to get me started!

Hi Lynn. I am in a know-your-rights class, and we are designing a mock trial based on a breach of contract dispute to teach students. Do you still have any contract law mock trial materials? I would really appreciate any help you have!

Hi, I’m a defense attorney for a mock trial case at school. We have a (fake) client who was legally drunk, but is accused for vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving because an accident occured. The girl in the front passenger seat was killed. Our client and another passenger in the back seat left the scene. We understand how to get our client off of the manslaughter charge, but how might we get him off of drunk driving as well?

Sometimes defense lawyers will concede a lesser charge in order to maintain credibility on the greater charge. But if you want to fight the DUI, you can challenge the accuracy of the alcohol test. For example, did the prosecution actually produce an expert to testify that the testing instrument was accurate? Did the prosecutor prove that the driver didn’t have any alcohol after the accident? Is it possible that he seemed drunk simply because he had a concussion? Was the odor of alcohol due to alcohol being spilled on the defendant?

M the defense attorney for a mock trial competition. our case is about discrimination of employment on the ground of disability. I am thinking of hitting at the maintainability of the case. can u suggest me some nice lines for my opening statement as to how would i bring on the subject of law point? i mean can i directly start with the maintainability part??

I was wondering if I emailed you my opening statement for a mock trial for my civil litigation trial if you could give me some feed back? Or e-mail me if you see this soon! Thanks:) cwilson190@ivytech.edu

Hi this helped a lot. I’m in 8th grade and we are doing a mock trial in my Research class. I was wondering if you could help with the closing statement. This is the first time I have ever done this it would really help. Here’s my email. Thanks for the help.

Hi, I am competing in the CACJ mock trial competition in San Francisco. I am tasked with the defense’s opening statement. I was wondering if you could look over what I’ve written and give me some feedback? my email is: gabled@uchastings.edu

I am one of two defense attorneys for a case of a German monk, Martin Luther, and I need to present an opening statement. I am not sure how I should start though. You may or may not be familiar with this case, but I’d really appreciate it if you could e-mail me with some hints.
Thanks!

I have to write an opening statement as a defense lawyer for this awful criminal law class I’m taking, can I e-mail you the mock case and can you give me some pointers. Going up and talking in front of people makes me sick especially if I have no idea what I’m talking about. Thank you in advance.

Hi there. In school we read the book “The Outsiders”. We have to do a mock trial against (Main character) Ponyboy Curtis. He is being charged with aiding and abetting his best friend’s (Johnny) murder. I am on the defending side. If you would care to read it or if you’ve already read it I would love to get an email with an opening statement and/or evidence. Thanks for your time.

Hi. In my mock trial, me and my team have to defend Hamlet, from Shakespeare,who is being charged with 2nd degree murder for Polonius’s death, for he stabbed Polonius, who was hiding behind a curtain. Yet Hamlet didn’t know that it was Polonius hiding in his mother’s room. How can we prove that Hamlet is not guilty?

I think murder is defined as an intentional killing. Killing someone who is behind a curtain is murder if the defendant knew someone was there. But if he was just thrashing about recklessly, then the offense would be manslaughter, which is defined as killing someone as a result of a reckless act. Have you thought about maybe a defense of insanity or diminished capacity for you mock trial?

Our mock trial case is a civil case over the death of a pet supposedly caused from the negligence of the pet manufacturer company. The prosecution uses pathos often to sway the jury. How can I counter that? Can I skew the emotion towards our advantage. Can you help? Thanks!

It is hard too much without knowing the fact pattern, but I would try to emphasize how bad the manufacturer feels. Emphasize him as a person, how he went into the business because he loves animals, how he takes any defect of his product seriously, but that he cannot, in an imperfect world, cannot make 100% guarantee, and cannot play God. Accidents happen, we all feel bad, we feel bad when any animal dies, when one is hit by a car, or dies of old age, or hurts its leg. But that is the life cycle. The plaintiffs case is not so much about his love of his lost animal, his case is about his love of money, and no amount of money can bring the pet back. The plaintiff lost his pet and we feel bad, but that doesn’t mean why should turn our court of law into who wants to be a millionaire.
Heck, I don’t know, kind of depends on your fact pattern, I guess.
As to part two of your question, it is hard to say.

I’m a defense attorney on a mock trial case that is accused murder. The victim was locked in a freezer and while in the freezer wrote “Killer /” in bacon. The victim owned a restaurant with the defendant, and was a gambler. Contralto, a loan shark loaned the victim money and was trailing her trying to get the money back. The victim (her name was Devin Frost) was stealing money from the business that she owned with the defendant, and the business was about to go in red. The defandant, otherwise known as Willy Freeman, was a cook at the restaurant. So it makes sense that his finger prints were on the cooler, the padlock. But not the kitchen knife. However, since the victim died on hypothermia, it doesn’t seem to matter. After the victim was pronounced dead, though its hard to tell exactly how long she was in the freezer, Willy found out about the buy-sell agreement, where if the victim died, the defendant would recieve 500,000. The state thinks it was Willy because he was descibed as “enraged” when he found out Devin was stealing from the business, which happened to be a day before Devin died, which doesn’t look so good. However, it could be premeditated and the best we could probably give is a sentence in manslaughter. And while we’d like to blame Contralto (the loan shark), and evidenence is stacked against him, first we have to prove it wasn’t Willy, Though my team and I believe that Willy is innocent, we haven’t quite found a way to “cast enough doubt” onto the jury yet. My mock trial case is on the 25, and it is my job to write the opening statement, though I’m not sure how to start it and what to say. I’d like to have the opening statement done by the 22, but I NEED it done by the 23. If you could please give me some pointers by then, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. This was really helpful. Thank you again,
Lucy.

I guess I would point out that it is a natural reaction for a person to become upset when they are a victim of a crime (theft). I would argue that what would be suspicious is that if the didn’t react in the customary way, and instead was quiet and brooding about it like he was formulating a plan in his own mind to kill. A lot of people are victims of theft, and it doesn’t mean they kill. Ask the jurors if you have ever had something stolen? Did that lead you to kill? No, it didn’t. Can you say the same about loan sharks? No you can’t. They are violent people, they are the ones who kill. Physical violence is the only collection method they have. Let’s face it, loan sharks don’t take people to small claims court, they don’t garnish wages, they collect by either the threat, or by the actual use, of violence. It sound like the police is giving the real killer a free pass, because there was a rush to judgment, and they are unable to admit they made a mistake. Locking someone in a cooler isn’t the act of an enraged man. An enraged person would seek a more impulsive, immediate form of killing, such as a stabbing. Locking someone in a cooler is more an act of someone who is calm and calculating. Maybe the intent of the loan shark wasn’t to kill, just to scare.
So I guess I would kind of weave those themes in as well as any other additional themes you have.

Thanks for your article. I have a question, though. My teacher had an attorney come and speak in our mock trial class, and he said that in the defense opening statement, the defense attorney should not argue, just state the facts (while telling the story). Do you recommend rebuking the prosecution in the opening statement? Because all other sources I have looked at want/tell the defense attorney to avoid arguing in the opening statement.

Yes, it is an important distinction to make. Opening statements are for outlining your case or “telling a story”, and closing arguments is for summing up your case and arguing. However, sometimes I will sometimes sneak a little arguing into my opening. Say for example it is a self-defense case, a traditional opening would explain how a client used force because he felt violence was to be done to him. So I might sneak in a comment like “of course he reacted, who wouldn’t?” or “What was he supposed to do, just let himself get beat up?”, and I might look to the prosecutor when I said this. But I guess in mock trial you want to keep this argument-like language out of a opening statement, or the judge might think that you don’t know the difference between an opening or closing.

hi!
I am going to be the lead defense attorney in a mock trial. Thanks for all your suggestions! they really helped!! I am still trying to find a statement that will stab the other team in the throat! (not literately). any ideas?

Hi I’m the defense in a mock trial in a scenario we had at my school. My client is a homeless man charged with domestic violence. He does admit living with the victim but he will not be testifying. When he arrived to their living structure and found his antique watch missing they got into an argument and the victim claims he then slapped her . Would we be able to argue they did not truly reside since they did not own the structure (a torn up cardboard box) and did not pay a rent of any sort. The officer also made mistakes in the report stating my client had reddening on his face from a slap as well when he claims he was not hit nor hit the victim. How would we use this? The officer also stated on one page of the report that my client and the victim were former spouses (which they are not) and that they resided on another page.

i am a student and currently doing a mock trial. My client was charged for murder and being in the united states illegally. But he and his wife are currently waiting for citizenship paperwork to become a unites states citizen. He is getting accused of distrabuting drugs to high school students and there was a party being thrown on april 10. My client was in mexico durring a family reunion. how would i defend pablo if there is evidence of drugs in his store with his finger prints on them? i would really like to know how to address this. Thank you.

I am not sure how the murder allegation ties in, but let me try to deal with the drug allegation. I am not sure how you get around the fingerprints on the drugs. Maybe the defendant touched the bags when they were empty because he uses such bags in his restaurant, and then later someone else put the bags to use in the business of drugs.

This is my first year participating in a Mock Trial course, and I am the defense attorney for our first case of the year. This being my first attempt at a trial, I’m pretty nervous. Most of the students in my class have either taken an Intro to Law course, or have taken the class before. I’ve done neither, and I have a relatively unexperienced trial team. I just want to thank you for providing this information, as I have little knowledge on opening and closing statements. The odds might be stacked against us, but I hope we can pull it out.
Thanks,
Milo, 8th grade

Highlight the strengths of your case. Was the driver unsteady? Did he have a strong odor of alcohol? Was he swerving around when he was driving? Try to cover the highlights. Don’t just focus on the breath test or blood alcohol level. I guess that would be my advice. Maybe in closing argument point out that even if the blood test of breath test wasn’t accurate, it is still just common sense that someone can tell when someone has had too much to drink.

Hi, I need help with a mock trial opening statement I need to write about a case in which a 16 year old is charged with theft under $5000 assault and uttering threats. The thing is that he wasn’t the one to actually commit the theft, or touch the victim. It was an acquaintance you were with that cannot be found. The police found $25 on the accused which he got from work, and the same amount was stolen from the victim. HELP!

Hi, I’m playing a third-party defense attorney in a mock trial, representing the employer of the main defendant in a car accident. Trying to get around that whole Respondeat Superior thing. I have an opening statement written, would you mind taking a look and helping me out?? THANK YOU!

This is my first year particpating in mock trial and I was ask to perform the opennig for the defence. I have little exp if not any at all and I would greatly appreaciate your advice and suggestions on my opening drafts. Thank you.

This has been very helpful in my approach to writing my opening speech. I highlighted certain points that i never would have sought and it really had my speech flowing from one point to the next. I am very appreciative of this. looking forward to others.

Can you please write some more examples of thinking outside of the box, coming up with creative arguments in response to what the prosecution has to offer, warping their statements against them. I just require further inspiration at the moment. Thank you for your time.

Hello, thank you so much for posing this! I recently joined the mock trial team and there are a few questions that I would like to ask. It would be greatly appreciated if you have the time! My e-mail is ********@gmail.com
Thanks in advance :)

In my class we are using the book Lord of the Flies for our mock trial, im defending Jack and roger, Jack i can handle but Roger is clearly guilty. Going into this trial the jury already knows rogers intent, should i argue that he was mentally ill?

Is it common for an instructor to give the group only one week to get a mock trial together? I mean we’re all adults with families & jobs & other classes…which equals conflicting schedules. We are using the short story by Kate Chopin-Desiree’s Baby-for our mock trial. We were given the story to read-week one-before the next class. Then we were given the reason as to why we had the story-the mock trial-the week two. Now, as a group we have to prepare a mock trial to be presented the week three. What class is this, you ask? SPK 201 Oral Communication!!!!!

My mock trial is from the 1830’s, so there are many racists. I am the defense attorney. We have a young black teen, TJ, and he’s 13. He was being deceived by 2 adult white men. One night, they convinced him to break into a mercantile and let them in. The white men wear stockings over their heads to make them look black. As the two older men are robbing the place, the store owner and his wife wake up and go downstairs into the shop to see whats going on. The 2 older men kill the owner and then knock out his wife. When they leave, TJ threatens to rat them out. They beat TJ up and break a few of his ribs. TJ runs away and is able to hitch a ride back to his house. Later that night, the 2 white men gather up a mob and try to lynch TJ. They are unsuccessful because the sheriff takes him away. TJ is being convicted of murder, assault, and robbery. He didn’t do it obviously, but in this era of racism, he is being falsely convicted because he is black. What is the best way to defend him, and what questions should I ask him during the trial?

Hi Irene. If that is what your packet says, then I would go with that. Every school is different, and it is best to tailor your statement to comply with the expectations of your teacher or the materials that she has given you. I can say, however, that as a lawyer who has done trials for 20 years, I do address the evidence that I think the other side might present. One word of caution is that if you are a prosecutor, you need to be careful not to say anything that could be construed as placing a burden of proof on the defense. The burden of proof is always on the prosecuting attorney. Thanks for visiting my blog!

our class is doing a mock trial for Macbeth being placed on for Murder and High Treason. I am on the defense team for this trial, so if anyone has any evidence to prove that he is innocent it would be greatly appreciated. I also need help in my opening statement regarding this case, what do I write to defend someone up for Murder and High Treason?

Thanks guys for visiting my blog. Georgina, I haven’t read MacBeth in a while, but maybe you could harken back to our founding fathers who declared independence from England. Wouldn’t they be guilty of treason? If they had failed in the revolution they would be prosecuted? Maybe it is justified by the need to depose a king that needs to be removed? Anyone else have any other ideas?

I’m a defense barrister in a case where my client has been accused of driving dangerously causing grievous bodily harm. the dispute is over whether my client drove in a manner dangerously. she was slowly pulling out to do a u-turn on a country road after indicating and looking. a motor bike hit the car and the driver went over the bonnet suffering grievous bodily harm. in my opening statement how would i go about stating that my client did not drive in a manner considered dangerous.

This is so helpful! I am a defence lawyer for my law class mock trial that is in Monday and I’m trying to get my opening statement all together but I’m not so good with anticipating the prosecution’s ideas and I was hoping I could talk to you privately about this possibly? That would be a great help!😊

I am representing myself in court on Tuesday. I know this is for mock trials but I really need a solid opening statement and closing statement. Is there a spot on here of good examples? Obviously the judge knows I am not a lawyer and isn’t expecting me to be but I don’t want to sound like an idiot… Got anything on here for me?

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